National Honors for Oregon Tree Farmers, Nov. 2

The American Tree Farm System announced today that the 2016 National Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year award will go to the Defrees family of northeast Oregon. The award recognizes the Defrees family for practicing sustainable land management, protecting forested land, wildlife habitat and water quality for over a century. The Defrees represent the first recipient of the award from Northeast Oregon, and are the first Oregon recipients in a decade. Learn more about the Defrees Tree Farm and the award at https://www.treefarmsystem.org/2016-otfy. The Defrees will be honored for the award on December 6, at a reception on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the program. Father and son duo Lyle and Dean Defrees, along with Dean’s family, wife Sharon, daughter Dallas and husband Riley Hall, son Nathan and wife Jess, and son Tyler and wife Max Patashnik, manage the approximately 2,000-acre tree farm located in northeast Oregon, a region of the state prone to intense wildfires that have consumed both forest and homes and affected watersheds and drinking water.